1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus, and more specifically, to an electronic camera which changes a gradation sequence characteristic by a zoom lens.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional technique is disclosed in JP-A 2002-369796, which matches luminance differences with a dynamic range in an endoscope based on a luminance distribution of a photogenic subject, and which shifts a gamma table in accordance with a zooming position to remove an influence of light other than the light from the subject which is subjected to photographing. As in this conventional technique, heretofore a gradation sequence characteristic is changed based on the luminance distribution or the like of the subject. However, in this method, it is impossible to discriminate a part which is originally black but photographed bright from a grey part which is originally blighter than black. In other words, there has been a problem that even if the subject is grey which is blighter than black, the grey part is compensated to be darker.
In some zoom lenses, for example, a degree of influence with the light other than the light from the subject photographed varies, depending on positions of the lenses at a “wide-range” side in which a focal length is short and at a “telescopic-range” side in which a focal length is long. For example, there is one which tends to be influenced more by the light other than the light from the subject as the lenses are shifted to the “telescopic-range” side, resulting in a brighter entire picture. The influence floats the black in a low-luminance part and hence affects a photographed image. Such a phenomenon is generally called “flare”.